1. Lesson One of the Book of Daniel, Introduction to the Book of Daniel

The Book of Luke, The Birth of the Messiah, Part I  - Lesson 15
 

Luke 2:1-20, And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. ²(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) ³And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. ⁴And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) ⁵To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. ⁶And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. ⁷And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. ⁸And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. ¹⁰And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. ¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. ¹²And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. ¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, ¹⁴Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. ¹⁵And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. ¹⁶And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. ¹⁷And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. ¹⁸And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. ¹⁹But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

Luke’s account of our Lord’s birth is the only inspired account recorded in the gospels.  

Neither Mark nor John deal with the birth or the childhood days of either John the Baptist or Jesus, but begin with the commencement of John’s public ministry.  

Matthew tells us about the visitation of the angel to Joseph, prior to the birth of Jesus, which caused him to marry Mary, rather than to put her away privately, as he had originally intended.  

Matthew also informs us about the visit of the magi, of Herod’s attempt to kill the baby, and of the flight of the family to Egypt until after Herod’s death.

Matthew does not, however, tell us anything about the events surrounding the actual birth of the Lord Jesus.

Only Luke describes the events of our Lord’s birth.

So we see that the only account of Christ’s birth is also a very brief account.

Of all of the things which Luke could have told us about the birth of the Lord Jesus, he chose to give a very brief account of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem (the decree of Caesar, the census, the fact that the place of Joseph’s birth was Bethlehem), and how nearby shepherds came to witness the Messiah’s first coming.

God has chosen to give us these few events to the exclusion of a multitude of others and therefore we may conclude that they are the most important events for us to know.

But one thing we need to remember is that the birth of Christ is not a part of the Gospel. 

The gospel is concerned with the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Of course his birth was a necessary ingredient to his death but it is not part of the gospel

While only one gospel records the details of our Lord’s birth all four carefully depict His death, burial and resurrection. 

Only a very few verses describe the events surrounding the birth of Christ while several chapters of each gospel are devoted to a description of His arrest, trial, crucifixion, burial, resurrection and ascension.

When viewed in the light of the Gospels, the birth of Christ must be seen as important, but it also must be seen as overshadowed by other important truths.

If we are to understand and celebrate Christmas in a way that is consistent with Scripture, we must celebrate it from a biblical perspective.

So when God gives more notice to certain things we ought to see those things as more important than things given less notice.

On that basis we should conclude that the death of Christ is more important to the gospel writers than His birth.

Why is this so?

Because it is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ that provides for our salvation, and not the baby Christ.

Certainly Christ had to take on human flesh before He could reveal God to men and save them, but it is His atoning work on the cross of Calvary that saves us.

Why, then, is the Christmas story so important to many today, even those who do not believe in Christ for salvation?

Most likely it is because the babe in the manger is far less threatening than the Christ of the later gospels, who interprets and applies the Law, who condemns sin and who speaks of faith in His blood.

The baby in the manger is sweet and lovable, and also “controllable.”

The baby in the manger is a God whom we are comfortable to approach, to think about, even to worship.

But the Christ hanging on the cross is not a pretty picture.

The Babe in the manger is one to whom we are drawn naturally, but we are not naturally drawn to the Christ who hangs bleeding on the cross. 

Many have made much, too much, of the babe in the manger because this is the kind of “god” they wish to serve, a “god” who is weak, who is helpless, who needs us, rather than a God who is sovereign, and who demands our obedience, our worship, our all.

Worshipping the “babe in the manger” is not enough, for this is only the way He came into the world and not the way he exited.

The way He will be for all eternity is the way He is described by John in the book of Revelation.

But as usual the world turns things upside down and gets things wrong but Christians ought to have discernment about the matter and put Christmas in the proper perspective. 

The world and the world’s merchants give all importance to Christmas but little notice is made of the memorial of Christ’s resurrection at Easter other than to disguise that with the Easter bunny.

Christmas today is designed to present a Christ not of the Bible but of the human heart’s own making!

One writer has expressed this thought in this way.

Oh! the million Christmas mornings

When you’d lie, a babe again,

Beneath a million million trees

And hear the countless tongues chanting your name.

Ah . . . will they remember crimson

Dripping from the iron nails

And will they pray, and will they know

A whiter white than snow?

Keith Patman 

So any celebration of Christmas ought to always point to the blood of  Christ that was shed on the cross and not simply the birth of a baby in bethlehem 

Our text, Luke 2, verses 1-20, has three divisions.

Verses 1-7 explain the occasion for Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, and especially for the circumstances accompanying His birth, namely His being wrapped in strips of cloth and being placed in a cattle feeding trough.

Verses 8-14 describe the angelic visitation of the shepherds as the occasion for the visit of the shepherds at the birth sight.

Verses 15-20 report the shepherd’s visitation and their testimony after having seen the Savior.

There are some intervening events reported by Matthew which also help us to understand what is taking place in our text.

Matthew’s account of Joseph’s angelic visitation seems to occur shortly after Mary has returned to her home in Nazareth from the home of Elizabeth and Zacharias (cf. Luke 1:39-56).

On returning home Mary was at least three months pregnant.

Seeing her three months into her pregnancy must have been a great shock and disappointment to Joseph.

Certainly Joseph’s natural inclination was that Mary had been unfaithful to him while she was away from Nazareth visiting Elisabeth.

Divorce was unavoidable, Joseph knew, but he determined at least to do this privately, rather than to make a public spectacle of Mary.

It was at this point in time that the angel visited Joseph in a dream, Matthew tells us (Matt. 1:18-25), informing him that Mary had not had an illicit union, but that the child she was to bear was God incarnate, Immanuel.

As a result of this revelation, Joseph took Mary as his wife, providing for her and protecting her, and later serving as the father of the miracle child she bore.

Mary became Joseph’s wife in a very different way, due to the nature of her pregnancy.

Normally, a Jewish man and woman became husband and wife by their physical union and were not considered husband and wife until the union was consummated.

Mary could not have had such a marriage ceremony, for Matthew has told us that they did not come together until after the birth of Jesus (Matt. 1:25).

When Matthew refers to Mary and Joseph as being married, he speaks practically, for from this time on they lived together as husband and wife.

But when Luke speaks of this couple, on their way to Bethlehem, he speaks of them as though they were still engaged, and yet to be married.

Note the fact that he uses the term “espoused”. 

Luke was technically correct for it was only after the birth of Jesus that Mary and Joseph consummated their marital union and became husband and wife in the precise Jewish sense.

Luke 2:1-7,  And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. ²(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) ³And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. ⁴And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) ⁵To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. ⁶And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. ⁷And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. 

Luke takes up the account of the birth of Jesus with a report of the conditions into which God’s Messiah was born, and the human reasons for them.

Luke is careful to give us an historical setting for the birth of Christ. 

Caesar Augustus was the emperor who ordered the tax.

Caesar Augustus’ original name was Gaius Octavius, known in English as Octavian. 

He was a contemporary of Herod the Great and had been born in 63 B.C.

He was Roman emperor from 27 B.C. until his death in 14 A.D. 

He was not around during the adult ministry of Jesus Christ but he was emperor at the time of the birth of Christ.

He was grandnephew of Julius Caesar from whom the title Caesar came. 

Caesar was a family name and those emperors who came from Julius’s line were also called Caesar and after the last Caesar Nero, the name Caesar was kept to designate the emperial rulers.

In the year 27 B.C. the Roman senate conferred on the former Octavian, the title Augustus, which means majestic, sublime, highly revered. 

From then on he was known as Caesar Augustus

Caesar Augustus had proclaimed a decree, which required a census, undoubtedly in preparation for a later taxation.

Registering for this census must have been a very painful act, not only because doing so was inconvenient, but because it was a reminder that while God’s people, Israel, were in the land of promise, they were not free; they were under the rule of a pagan power. 

They had forsaken God as their ruler and all must have a ruler so God had given them the Romans.

A Roman law, made by a pagan emperor, compelled the Israelites to comply.

This puts to a lie the insistence of the Jews that they were subject to no one when they said to Jesus in John 8:33 We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man:  

They must have soon forgot the bondage they were under when Rome ruled.

But God was not under the Roman rule and we can easily see that the decree of Caesar was divinely intended to cause one couple to make a long difficult journey from their home town of Nazareth in Galilee to the place of their birth, Bethlehem in Judea.